2004 Annual Report Executive Summary
Metlakatla Indian Enterprise Community
Metlakatla Indian Community EC (EC) continued to make progress in 2004. Early in the year, efforts were focused on completion of renovations to the Town Hall. Without the use of EZ/EC funds, Metlakatla could have lost this very important building, as the roof was in danger of collapse. EZ/EC funds were used not only to replace the roof, but also to replace rotted timbers and unsafe wiring and to renovate the interior. The building is now once again a major community asset.
Other efforts in 2004 centered on the continuing task of trying to diversify Metlakatla’s economy, still adversely impacted by closure of the community’s largest employer, the Annette Hemlock Mills, and by the depressed state of the fishing and fish processing industry. The Annette Island Packing Company was successful in obtaining a $701,081 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and $185,000 in State Fisheries Disaster funds to purchase and install a tunnel freezer and associated equipment. The tunnel freezer will enable Annette Island Packing to expand its production of herring, salmon, and other species and to reduce the amount of handling of fish. EZ/EC funds were used to connect conveyor belts to the tunnel freezer and other needed improvements. The new manager, recruited in 2004, has begun a major overhaul of the neglected physical plant of the fish processing facility to help eliminate some of the most urgent health and safety hazards, such as rotted dock timbers and unsafe wiring. A major amount of additional funding is required and the EC submitted grant applications to Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Economic Development Administration for that purpose.
The Metlakatla Bottled Water plant, a new industry in Metlakatla, continued operations in 2004. EZ/EC funds were used to assist in the acquisition of an expanded parts and equipment inventory needed as the plant approaches full operation and experiments with different sized bottles for particular markets. The plant has been successful in obtaining contracts for custom bottling under different labels, as well as producing its own brand, Purple Mountain Water.
The Walden Road construction project, a major project involving the U.S. Army, the Federal Highway Administration, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, and Metlakatla Indian Community, continued in 2004. The U.S. Army’s portion of the work, development of a 14 mile unimproved pioneer road between Metlakatla and Walden Point, is scheduled to be completed in 2007. Improvement and paving of the route by the Bureau of Indian Affairs will then follow. The new road, when completed, will give Metlakatla residents much better access to Ketchikan, with frequent ferry service to be provided between Ketchikan and Walden Point. The road also has the potential to bring major changes in land use and public facilities and services to Metlakatla and, as a result, the EC foresees a need to undertake a complete new comprehensive development plan for Annette Island. Some EZ/EC funds for this purpose were obligated in 2004 and it is likely that more will be requested in 2005. The Metlakatla Indian Community EC was busy on many other fronts in 2004.
Construction of the new Annette Island Health Center, funded by the Indian Health Service, got underway, following extensive site preparation work carried out by the EC in the previous year. The EC is responsible for constructing Indian Health Service-funded employee housing for the new Health Center, while the Indian Health Service has contracted out the actual Health Center construction. Both projects are employing many Metlakatla residents and are contributing money to the local economy.
Preparatory work on the Bald Ridge Aggregate Project (BRAP) continued during 2004. In addition to continued environmental work and testing of the rock materials, an important step forward was taken with formation of the Metlakatla Aggregate Construction Co., a tribally-owned business with its own separate board, to meet the requirements of the Indian Minerals Development Act. The intention is for the newly formed company to be able to market and sell aggregate under 8(a) contracting agreements. Overall, Metlakatla made substantial progress in 2004. We look forward to making even more progress in 2005.
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